1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to, offer/bid development in a solution project, and more particularly, to a method of estimating the cost in customizing a Network Monitoring and Control (NMC) system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Network Monitoring and Control (NMC) systems are provided for different industrial domains such as transportation, building service and industrial automation. A NMC system monitors field devices and equipment, and activates predefined processing or control upon a status change of the equipment or field devices. A NMC system deployed in a solution project may be customized in accordance with the number of devices being monitored as well as different types of the devices. A solution project may be referred to as a project that is composed of the analysis of the business process and implementation of an integrated system to improve the business process with more advanced concepts, technologies and products. The logic for deciding when to activate a processing or control can vary depending on application-specific requirements.
Non-functional requirements (NFRs) for a NMC system are different for different NMC needed solution projects, and thus, NFRs are defined to address project specific needs. For example, the NFR of a safety-critical solution project may require a high availability. Further, a NFR may require Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment in an equipment room that may endure an extreme weather condition (e.g., very low temperature) to be monitored to ensure the temperature of the room is maintained within the operation range of the HVAC equipment. However, for an equipment location that is unlikely to endure an extreme weather condition, such monitoring would be unnecessary and thus the NFR would not be defined.
FIG. 1 shows how the requirement definition (or NFR) is related to system customization and integration in a life-cycle of a solution project. As shown in FIG. 1, the solution project begins with the requirement definition of a NMC to be developed (110). The NMC is customized and integrated according to the requirement definition (120). The customization may entail developing new software modules to process data from additional sensors or send a control signal to additional actuators. The integration would involve incorporating these new software modules into the NMC system. The NMC is deployed (130). The deployment would install the hardware such as sensors, equipment and actuators in the application environment, and install the software system that controls the equipment. Post-deployment (140) may entail the maintenance and other supports for operating the deployed NMC.
Before bidding on a solution project where a NMC plays a key role, it is important for bidders to have a reliable estimate of the customization work. In other words, within the bidding period, which is usually short, a bidder needs to precisely estimate how much of the NMC system needs to be customized. The customization work could be estimated as a number of new software modules and user interfaces to be developed, or as any new mechanism (e.g., using a security token as an electronic key for authentication) that needs to be developed to address the NFR requirements (e.g., high level of security). From a hardware aspect, to make the NMC system integrate with its external environment, the estimate also needs to include the cost for the interface devices that enable the communication between the NMC system and its external environment (e.g., HVAC to be monitored). Accordingly, there is a need to enhance offer/bid development in a solution project.